Michael Smith

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College sports television contracts with ESPN/ABC, BTN, Fox and CBS College Sports among others range anywhere from eight to 25 years in length. This revenue stream reportedly is worth an estimated billion dollars for the top five conferences, including the Big Ten, with each of the 14 schools supposedly getting close to $21 million annually. This stream, however, quickly dries up when it comes to players, the main reason for these contracts, who in reality are the “hired hands” while their “bosses” get paid. Yet the NCAA acts like an old Supremes tune and keeps holding on to its antiquated “amateur” system, which the world over long abandoned years ago. That in part explains the organization’s reaction a couple of weeks ago after a group of Northwestern University football players filed a petition to unionize. Continue Reading →